Abstract
The spin states of Co3+ ions in perovskite-type LaCoO3, governed by complex interplay between the electron-lattice interactions and the strong electron correlations, still remain controversial due to the lack of experimental techniques which can detect directly. In this letter, we revealed the tensile-strain dependence of spin states, i.e. the ratio of the high- and low-spin states, in epitaxial thin films and a bulk crystal of LaCoO3 via resonant inelastic soft x-ray scattering. The tensile-strain as small as 1.0\% was found to realize different spin states from that in the bulk.
Physical Review Letters:https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.120.206402